Heel



June 16, 1925. 1,542,602

L. BUCKNER HEEL Filed Sept. 27, 1921 2 Sheos-Sheet 1 8 7 2'0INVI'LQNVTOR.

By M

. 1 1, M; ATTORNEYIS.

L. BUCKNER HEEL Filed Sept. 27, 1921 June 16, 1925.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR m mw wmvw,

M ATTORNEYS Patented June 16, 1925.

LEON BUCKNER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HEEL.

Application filed September 27, 1921. Serial No. 503,540.

To all'tvhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEON BUGKNER, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York city, in the county of New York, State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Heels; and 'I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to heels which may be put on and taken off by theuser and, therefore, which may be renewed by the user whenever itbecomes necessary, and which may be shifted from one foot to the otherwhen the heel becomes worn on one side. While preferably made of rubber,any desired material may be used.

The invention may be embodied in a one piece heel, or it may be embodiedin a twopart heel. In either case, the heel is provided with a number ofsockets, which are adapted to engage over a fastening element providedwith a ball-head. Thefastening element in question is simply a nail, thehead of which is considerably enlarged for coopcrating with the socketin the heel, and which is provided with a sharpened portion so that itmay be driven into the shoe. This nail is provided with a shoulderadapted to bear against the shoe for limiting the inward travel of thenail, whereby all of the nails will be driven in the same distance.

In another aspect, the ball may be made in two parts, which, by asuitable ke may be spread apart after the ball-hea is in place in thesocket in the heel, for more securely engaging the ball-head with thesocket. In order to more securely hold the ball elements in theirrespective sockets, a

wire may be embedded in the heel with elastic looped portions arrangedadjacent the sockets so that the ball elements will snap through theseloops and be held in place in the respective sockets, thus forming a.ball and socket detachable fastener.

The invention is also applicable to two part heels. In ordinary usage, aheel wears away on the outside while the inner part of the heel issubjected to very little wear. In accordance with this invention, theworn outer part of the heel is taken oif and a new one put in place,thus giving practically a new heel with only the necessity of renewmgthe-outer art of the heel. Also, the heels may be s ifted from one shoeto the other to equalize wear.

In the case of a two part heel, the inner heel may be nailed to the shoein the ordinary way and the outer part may be made detachable by theball and socket arrangement that has been described; or, in anotheraspect, both the inner and outer heels may be made detachable by theball and socket fastening means.

The looped wire fastening means that has been described may also be madeconvex toward the ground, so that when the fastening nails engage withthe wire, the will bend the convexly bent wire so that it will tend topress the heel into close contact with the shoe.

The several heels involved in this invention are preferably made ofrubber, but, of course, any desired material can be used.

The disclosure of this invention is rather closely related to myco-pending application, Serial No. 491,922, filed August 13, 1921, andto my second co-pending application, Serial No. 501,415, filed September17, 1921.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in theaccompanyingdrawings, wherein similar reference characters are used todesignate similar parts.

Figs. 1 and 2 are sectional views showing two modifications of theinvention;

Fig. 3 is a view of the ball-headed fastening element; 1

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a two-part heel showing amodification; v

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the inner heel of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the outer heel of Fig. 4;; 4

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the fastening means used;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a detachable one piece heel;

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 12-12 of Fi 8- Fig w is a sectionalviewsimilar to Fig. 9 showing a modification;

Fig. 11 shows a modified form of ballheaded fastener before the heel isengaged therewith;

Fig. 12 shows the ball-headed fastener engaged with the heel; and

Figs. 13 and 14 are side and end views of a locking pin used with thefastener of Figs. 11 i 12.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the inner heel 5 is nailed to the shoe withthe ordinary t pe of nail 6 associated with the washers 7. e

outer heel 8 is more or less U-shaped and is fastened to the shoe by aball-headed fastening element 12. The two heels are cooperativelybeveled as indicated at 11, the direction of the bevel being such thatthe inner heel helps to hold on the outer heel, as it is evident thatthe outer heel is more liable to engage with obstacles that would tendto pull it off than is, the case with the inner heel. The two heels mayalso be chamfered as indicated at 9, so that in case one heel is alittle thicker than the other, an objectionable projecting edge will notbe formed.

The outer heel 8 is provided with a recess 10 extending therethroughwhich is enlarged as indicated at 12 to form a socket. This is shown inmore detail in Fig. 7. The fastening element for this heel comprises aballheaded element 13 provided with a nail portion 1 1 and a limitingshoulder 15, as shown more particularly in Fig. 3. The ball 13cooperates with the socket 12 to form an ordinary ball and socket joint.The fastening element may be first driven into the shoe and the heelthen snapped in place so that the several ball-heads engage in therespective sockets 12. The nails 14 are driven into the shoe until thelimiting shoulder 15 contacts against the shoe, so that they all willproject from the shoe the same distance. Instead of first driving in theballheaded elements and then applying the outer heel, the outer heel maybe put in place around the inner heel and then the ballheaded nails maybe inserted in the recesses 10 and driven into the shoe, therebyautomatically positioning the several ball-headed elements in the rightplace for engaging with the several sockets. The elasticity of therubber is such as to allow the shoulder 15 and the ball 13 to passthrough the recesses 10 to their proper position.

The modification shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is directed to means for moresecurely fastening the ball elements in their respective sockets, andalso for holding the heel portions more tightly against the shoe. Thefirst of these objects is attained by embedding in each .heel portion 5and 8 a wire 20 which is provided with elastic loop portions 21 adjacentthe shoe side of the sockets 12, bordering the sides of the sockets, andspaced apart a distance somewhat less than the diameter of one of theball-heads 13, so that the loop has to spring apart to let the ballelement pass, after which it snaps together into the neck below theball-headed element for holding it more securely in place in the recess.

The described wire 20 may be substantially flat, that is, may be madeall in one plane, or it may be convex toward the ground as is shown inFigs. 5 and 6, so that when the fastenin elements are driven in placethey tend to atten out the convex part of the wire, so that it willpress the heel portions into tighter engagement with the shoe. Theseheel portions just described may be beveled as those shown in Fig. 1 arebeveled.

Fig. 8 shows a one piece heel 25 which is provided with a plurality ofsockets 12 for cooperating with the ball-headed nails 13. A wire 26provided with loops 27 adjacent the respective sockets 12, act in thesame way as the wire portions 20 and 21 do in Fig. 4. In Fig. 9 the wire26 is substantially fiat. In the modification in Fig. 10 it is madeconvex toward the ground as indicated at 26', for pressing the heeltoward the shoe when the nails 13 are in place.

The modified fastening device shown in the remaining figures comprises aballheaded fastening element 28 having the head formed in two connectedparts, shown at 29, of elastic metal, which normally lie together, butwhich may be forced apart by a pin such as shown in Figs. 13 and 14.Recesses 29 are cut into parts 29, as indicated. This pin, indicated at30, is provided with a slotted head 31 and two laterally extending lugs32. The fastening device or nail 28 is first driven into the shoe asshown in the upper part of Fig. 11. The heel, which may be a one pieceheel or an outer or inner heel, provided with the usual socket 12, isforced into place until the ball portion is in the socket 12. Thelocking pin 30 is then forced in between the two halves 29 of the ballhead of the nail 28, with the lugs 32 in the same plane as the planedividing the two halves of the ball head. By means of a screw-driver thepin 30 is then turned about 90, the lugs 32 forcing the two halves 29apart into tight engagement with the socket 12, until the lugs snap intothe recess 29' to thereby lock the spread head portion in the recess 12.Evidently the fastening device may be unlocked by turning the lookingpin 30 back through 90 and removing it, thereby allowing the two halves29 of the head of the fastening device to spring together so that theheel may be removed. A latching wire as shown in Fig. 8 could be usedwith the fastener if desired.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail, itshould, of course, be understood that the inventive ideas involved maybe carried out in many other ways, as expressed within the scope of thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A heel provided with a recess extending therethrough, part of therecess being enlarged to form a socket, in combination with aball-headed nail, provided with a shoulder below the head, the nailbeing driven in through the recess in the heel into the shoe so that theshoulder contacts against the shoe and the head of the nail engages inthe socket, the recess being shaped so that the heel can be removedwithout injury thereto by pulling it away from the shoe, the nailremaining in the shoe.

2. A heel provided with a recess having an enlarged portion extendingtherethrough, in combination with an expansible headed fastening, saidfastening being adapted to be inserted through the recess in the heelinto the shoe until the head of the fastening engages the enlargedportion of the recess,

means for spreading the head of the nail the socket.

4. In a heel, the combination with a split ball-headed fastening, asocket in the heel for receiving said fastening, and means for spreadingthe head of said fastening in the socket.

In testimony whereof' 'I afiix my signature.

LEON BUOKNER.

